Back in 1962, Dixon of Dock Green had been a regular staple police programme on Saturday night television for nine years. In it PC George Dixon, played by Jack Warner portrayed the archetypal local bobby. But the series was criticised for being too cosy, predictable, and unrealistic. Then along came a new police drama with gritty realistic stories that changed all that, a BBC series that ran for 801 episodes, Z-Cars.

The series was located in the fictional town of Newtown based on Kirkby in Lancashire (later Merseyside), and the name Z-Cars relates to an imaginary Z Division of the local constabulary. The two patrol cars that featured in the programme were Z Victor 1 and Z Victor 2 and their call sign into the control centre was ‘Z Victor 1 (or 2) to BD’, BD being the code in Lancashire for the radio controller.

The series was not named after the Ford Zephyr cars used in the programme, though the Zephyr was used as a standard patrol car by the Lancashire Constabulary.

The theme tune to Z Cars was based on an old Liverpool sea shanty, Johnny Todd, which you can listen to here. . Compare this with the theme to the TV programme here The theme was later adopted by Everton Football Club as its official anthem.

Of the 801 episodes that were broadcast between January 1962 and September 1978, only about 40% of them have survived. The original series was one of the last British television dramas to be screened as a live production. The episodes up to 1970 were made in black and white. There is more information about the series here.

When the first run ended in 1965, two of the detectives Det Chief Insp Barlow, played by Stratford Johns, and Det Sgt Watt, played by Frank Windsor, were spun into a separate series Softly, Softly.

But the most remarkable fact about the series was the number of actors that appeared in the series. It became a right of passage for budding actors, many of whom became household names and well-known actors. Around 1,400 actors appeared over the 16 years that the series was broadcast (there were 1467 characters in total).

Here are the names of some of the actors, together with photos of a few of them that you may recognise.

Most popular newspapers and magazines have a page or column where some well known person or local luminary answers questions about themselves, some bland, some quite intimate. What three things would you take with you to a desert island? When were you happiest? What keeps you awake at night? What do you do to relax? When did you last cry? It’s not meant to be revealing or taken too seriously; at most mildly interesting. Comics have a difficulty of course as witty answers are expected; artists have to be profound and down to earth at the same time, and politician’s answers are likely to be dull or safe, though wouldn’t this mean that current politicians are not chosen?

One question that appears regularly is ‘who would you most like to have dinner with?’ or ‘who would you most like to invite to dinner?’ Often this includes notable people from the past being asked to dinner, though they would have to be brought back from the dead to sit at your table. And it is usually the case that the person must be well known. It wouldn’t be of much interest if the ‘interviewee’ said ‘my grandmother’, or ‘my wonderful hubby’, best friend, or the gardener ‘because he is so entertaining’.

What never seems to be mentioned is the food that would be served, nor who would do the cooking or the washing up? Suppose a famous chef was doing the inviting. It wouldn’t do for the guests to expect some lavish or experimental dishes. The modest chef would want to play down their expertise, so french onion soup, followed by scrambled eggs and smoked salmon would be rustled up, to be washed down with elderflower presse or Belgian beer.

Aubrey ManningZoologist & Broadcaster

In tabloids and provincial newspapers, the dinner guests seem to comprise predictable celebrities, popular heroes, and people in the public eye, often for some scandal or their outrageousness. Andy Murray of course, Bob Marley, Kerry Katona, Gordon Ramsay, Ann Widdecombe, Chris Hoy, Boris Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Chris Moyles, Russell Brand, Margaret Thatcher, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Usain Bolt, Simon Cowell, David Beckham, Joanna Lumley, Henry VIII, Steve Redgrave, Sienna Miller, Nelson Mandela, John Lennon, Jimmy Carr, Princess Diana, Nigella Lawson have all been invited, the list is endless. Even the Kray twins and Genghis Khan have been sought after as guests. Sometimes it is a fantasy dinner party so anything goes, though looking at the above names we are surely well into the realms of fantasy anyway. Are they likely to turn up? Popular fictional guests are Harry Potter, obviously, Del Boy, Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, Mr Bean, Ellen Ripley, Jeeves, Superman, David Brent, Captain James T Kirk, Tintin, and James Bond.